As Batwoman continues its first season on The CW, the Arrowverse series' seventh episode contained a direct reference to a villain recently introduced in the comic books. Despite this, showrunner Caroline Dries has stressed there are no plans to bring the antagonist to the DCTV series... yet.
The recently aired episode "Tell Me the Truth" had an assassin named The Rifle strike in Gotham City. Over the course of the episode, the contract killer referenced Safiyah, a character connected to the terrorist organization The Many Arms of Death. Dries has since claimed that the reference was nothing more than a world-building Easter egg and wink to comic book fans rather than set-up for a future payoff in Season 1.
"Our plans for this season is just to drop little teases like that. So if you get you catch it, and you read the comics, you’ll be like, 'Oh, I’m intrigued!' and if you don’t, it’s not a big deal. It just seems like it’s a bad guy somewhere else," explained Dries in an interview with Entertainment Weekly. "I think laying the pipe is our task for this season, at least as far as I can see what we’re doing in Season 1. So just creating intrigue."
The latest Arrowverse series has referenced iconic Batman supporting characters, including villains, across its entire run, with Safiyah just the most recent allusion. In the meantime, Kate Kane more than has her hands full against Alice and her fiendish Wonderland Gang, not to mention the coming Crisis.
Created by Caroline Dries and developed by Berlanti Productions and Warner Bros. Television, Batwoman stars Ruby Rose, Rachel Skarsten, Meagan Tandy, Camrus Johnson, Dougray Scott, Elizabeth Anweis and Nicole Kang. The series airs Sundays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on The CW.